Kaizen - How Can It Help You?
What does Kaizen, a Japanese method of production excellence and
industrial efficiency have to do with self improvement? Can it
be adapted to self-work? What is it, anyhow?
It began with the "continuous improvement" theories of
efficiency expert W. Edwards Deming in the 30s and 40s. After
the war the ideas were picked up by the Japanese and developed
into "Kaizen," a method for creating quality products
efficiently through many small and continuous changes. This is
perfect for self-improvement, as Robert Maurer explains in his
book "One Small Step Change Your Life:"
"Your brain is programmed to resist change, but by taking small
steps, you effectively rewire your nervous system so that is
does the following: * Unsticks you from a creative block.
* Bypasses the fight or flight response.
* Creates new connections between neurons so thet the brain
entusiastically takes over the process of change and you
progress rapidly towards your goal."
Kaizen is an alternative for those who have a hard time facing
major changes, like quitting smoking all at once. For something
like that, the kaizen way might be to stop smoking in your car,
as the first small step. Then you could switch to a brand with
less nicotine, stop smoking in the house, and so on.
An important technique used in kaizen is asking "small
questions." In factories this meant no more questions like "What
are you going to do to improve the company profits this year?"
That just elicits more fear than creative ideas. A better
question might be, "What small change could we make in your
department to reduce expenses (or improve quality)?" This
approach was found to be far more productive.
For purposes of self improvement, this means asking small
suggestive questions of yourself, like, "What could I do to free
up five minutes for my meditation practice?" or "What small
change could I make if I wanted to improve my relationships
today?" Small questions tend to dispell the fear and
intimidation that come with frontally facing the whole issue.
Small questions, along with small, comfortable changes is the
first important principle of kaizen. The second is to make the
process a continual one. Just imagine where you'd be if you had
consciously made one small change in your life each week for the
last few years. Even better, imagine where you'll be a few years
from now, if you start the process today.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step." -
Lao Tzu